SECOND COMMITTEE APPROVES DRAFTS ON CONSUMER PROTECTION GUIDELINES, PREPARATIONS FOR REVIEW OF HABITAT AGENDA

Press Release
GA/EF/2898

SECOND COMMITTEE APPROVES DRAFTS ON CONSUMER PROTECTION GUIDELINES, PREPARATIONS FOR REVIEW OF HABITAT AGENDA

Committee Also Hears Introduction of Texts on Financing Of Development, Trade and Development, Business and Development

The General Assembly would decide to adopt the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection (as expanded in 1999 to include sustainable consumption), by the terms of a proposal approved without a vote by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this morning.

Submitted under the Committee’s consideration of the report of the Economic and Social Council, the draft text contained guidelines which should apply both to home-produced goods and services and imports. In applying them, due regard should be given to ensuring that they do not become barriers to international trade and that they are consistent with international trade obligations.

The draft addressed such areas as physical safety; promotion and protection of consumers’ economic interests; standards for the safety and quality of consumer goods and services; distribution facilities for essential consumer goods and services; measures enabling consumers to obtain redress; education and information programmes; promotion of sustainable consumption; and international cooperation. Measures relating to specific areas, including food, water and pharmaceuticals were included.

By another proposal, approved this morning without a vote, relating to preparations for the Assembly's special session for an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the Habitat Agenda, the Assembly would endorse the decisions of the Preparatory Committee, in particular regarding its rules of procedure and the dates, venue and provisional agenda for its first substantive session.

Also this morning, a series of draft resolutions was introduced in connection with the Committee's consideration of financing of development, including net transfer of resources between developing and developed countries; trade and development; business and development; and implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s.

Texts were introduced this morning by two of the Committee's Vice-Chairmen, as well as the representatives of Guyana (on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China) and the United States.

The Committee will meet again at a date to be announced in the Journal.

Committee Work Programme

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this morning to hear the introduction of draft resolutions on financing of development, including net transfer of resources between developing and developed countries; trade and development; business and development; and implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s.

The Committee was also expected to take action on draft resolutions on the report of the Economic and Social Council and the implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II).

With regard to financing of development, the Committee had before it a draft resolution entitled towards a stable and equitable international financial system, responsive to the challenges of development, especially in the developing countries (document A/C.2/54/L.38), sponsored by Guyana, on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, and Mexico. It would have the Assembly call for the renewal of national, regional and international efforts to promote the greater involvement of the private sector in the prevention and resolution of financial crisis, and, in this context, underscore the importance of a more equitable distribution of the cost of adjustments between the public and private sectors, and between debtors, creditors and investors. It would have the Assembly request the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to provide its views on the matter to the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session.

The Assembly would also request the Secretary-General to support, through the collaboration of the regional commissions, regional and subregional initiatives, the design of a global agenda towards a more stable, predictable and equitable international financial system responsive to the challenges of development, particularly in developing countries. It would request the Secretary General to make available the results of those exercises to the Assembly at its next session. Further, it would request the Assembly President to send a copy of the present resolution to the Boards of Directors of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), inviting them to consider it in their discussions of the matter.

Also before the Committee was a draft resolution introduced by Guyana, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, on international trade and development (document A/C.2/54/L.36). The draft would request the Secretary-General to ensure, as a matter of urgency, the initiation by UNCTAD of the preparatory process for the final review and appraisal of the implementation of the New Agenda, to be held in the year 2002, in particular focusing on market access, diversification and supply capacity, resource flows and external debt, foreign direct and portfolio investment and access to technology. In that context, it would request him to present a report based on the recommendations of the Trade and Development Board on Africa and on measures taken in this regard, with a special emphasis on African trade issues, for the consideration of the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session under the agenda item entitled “International trade and development”.

Also, the Assembly would call on the international financial institutions to ensure that the developing countries are not required to undertake obligations with regard to their development policies, strategies and programmes in trade and trade-related areas in excess of, or additional to those undertaken within the framework of rules agreed within the multilateral trading system.

Further, the Assembly would request the Secretary-General, in scheduling and organizing mandated events on trade and trade-related issues, to promote complementarity on the work of the relevant bodies of the United Nations system, bearing in mind that the system is the focal point. It would also request UNCTAD to continue to identify and analyse the implications for development of issues relevant to investment, as well as to identify ways and means of promoting foreign direct investment to all developing countries, in particular to those most in need, taking into account the interests of developing countries and bearing in mind the work undertaken by other organizations.

In addition, the Assembly would request the Secretary-General of UNCTAD to provide substantive inputs on the role of information and communications technology in trade, finance, investment and related areas to the high-level segment of the substantive session of 2000 of the Economic and Social Council. It would also request the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in collaboration with the secretariat of UNCTAD, to report to the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session on (a) implementation and (b) developments in the multilateral trading system.

Also before the Committee was a draft resolution on specific actions related to the particular needs and problems of landlocked developing countries (document A/C.2/54/L.37), introduced by Guyana on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. By the terms of the draft, the Assembly would call on the landlocked developing countries and their transit neighbours to implement measures to further strengthen their cooperative and collaborative efforts to deal with transit transport issues. Those efforts would include bilateral and as appropriate subregional cooperation, by such means as improving the physical infrastructure and non-physical aspects of transit transport systems, strengthening and concluding bilateral and subregional agreements to govern transit transport operations, developing joint ventures in the area of transit transport, and strengthening institutions and human resources dealing with transit transport. The draft notes that, in this respect, South-South cooperation also plays an important role.

The Assembly would also appeal once again to all States, international organizations and financial institutions to implement the specific actions related to the particular needs and problems of landlocked developing countries agreed upon in the resolutions and declarations adopted by the General Assembly and the outcome of recent major United Nations conferences relevant to landlocked developing countries, the Global Framework for Transit Transport Cooperation between Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and the Donor Community, and the agreed recommendations and conclusions of the fourth Meeting of Governmental Experts from Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and Representatives of Donor Countries and Financial and Development Institutions.

Further, the Assembly would call on donor countries, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and multilateral financial and development institutions to provide landlocked and transit developing countries with predictable and additional financial and technical assistance in the form of grants or concessional loans for the construction, maintenance and improvement of their transport, storage and other transit-related facilities, including alternative routes and improved communications, and to promote subregional, regional and interregional projects and programmes.

The Assembly would also request the Secretary-General of the United Nations to convene in 2001, within the overall level of resources for the biennium 2000-2001, another meeting of governmental experts from landlocked and transit developing countries and representatives of donor countries and financial and development institutions, including relevant regional and subregional economic organizations and commissions, to review progress in the development of transit transport systems with a view to exploring the possibility of formulating necessary action-oriented measures, and to consider convening in 2003 a ministerial meeting on transit transport cooperation as a further effort to address the problems of landlocked and transit developing countries.

In addition, the Assembly would request the Secretary-General of UNCTAD, in cooperation with other development and financial institutions and donor countries, to seek voluntary contributions to ensure the participation of representatives of landlocked and transit developing countries at the meetings referred to in operative paragraph 11 of the text.

Also before the Committee is a draft resolution, sponsored by Guyana, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, on unilateral economic measures as a means of political and economic coercion against developing countries (document A/C.2/54/L.40). By its terms, the Assembly would urge the international community to adopt effective steps to eliminate the use of unilateral coercive measures against developing countries that are not authorized by relevant organs of the United Nations, or are inconsistent with the principles of international law as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, and that contravene the basic principles of the multilateral trading system. Also, it would request the Secretary-General to continue to monitor the imposition of measures of this nature and to study the impact of such measures on the affected countries, including the impact on trade and development.

Further, the Committee has before it a draft resolution, sponsored by Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Peru and the United States, on business and development (document A/C.2/54/L.34). By its terms, the Assembly would call on public and private sector entities to ensure that workplaces are free from violence, racism and other forms of discrimination, forced labour and the worst forms of child labour. It would also call on the United Nations funds and programmes to continue to strengthen support for the promotion of entrepreneurship and, in their work in implementing the present resolution, to give due consideration to the role of the private sector in development, taking into account the priorities set by each country, while ensuring a gender perspective.

Further, the Assembly would call on agencies and organizations of the United Nations system, including UNCTAD, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the UNDP, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as other relevant international organizations, to continue identifying ways to promote corporate responsibility in support of sustainable development.

The Committee also had before it a draft resolution, introduced by Guyana, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, on business and development: illegal transfer of funds from developing countries (document A/C.2/54/L.35). By the terms of the draft, the Assembly would call for further concerted international measures to combat corrupt practices and bribery in international transactions and condemn corruption and bribery and the illegal transfer of funds of developing countries to foreign banks.

Also, the Assembly would request the international community to support the efforts of developing countries aimed at strengthening local institutional capacity for preventing corrupt practices, including illegal transfers of funds. It would call for international cooperation, including through the United Nations system, to devise ways and means of preventing further illegal transfers from developing countries and repatriating illegally transferred funds to developing countries, and call on all concerned countries and entities to cooperate in this regard.

Also before the Committee was a draft resolution, sponsored by Guyana on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, on implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s (document A/C.2/54/L.39). By its terms, the Assembly would decide: that the third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries will be held in Brussels; that the meeting of the intergovernmental preparatory committee envisaged in paragraph 4 of Assembly resolution 53/182 will be organized in New York in two parts, in the third quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001, each for five working days; that the Secretary-General of the Conference will organize the three expert- level preparatory meetings provided for in paragraph 4 of its resolution 53/182, at venues and for durations deemed most appropriate, in consultation with Member States; and to defray the cost of participation of two government representatives from each least developed country in the intergovernmental preparatory committee meetings and the Conference itself, through the use of unspent balances arising from the programme budget of the United Nations for the biennium 1998-1999.

Further, the Assembly would decide that the Programme of Action will continue to provide the framework for national and international action for the least developed countries until the adoption by the Conference of the next programme of action, and in this regard would request the Secretary-General to continue to give high priority to the implementation of the Programme of Action on a system-wide basis and in the context of the follow-up of all major United Nations conferences and summits as well as in all forthcoming events, including the tenth session of UNCTAD, the event of a high-level international intergovernmental consideration of financing for development and its preparatory process, and the Millennium Assembly.

Submitted under the Committee’s consideration of the report of the Economic and Social Council was a note by the Secretariat on the expansion of the United Nations guidelines on consumer protection to include sustainable consumption (document A/C.2/54/L.24). By its resolution 1999/7 of 26 July, the Economic and Social Council decided to transmit to the General Assembly, for consideration with a view to their adoption, the draft guidelines for consumer protection expanded to include sustainable consumption, annexed to the note. The guidelines should apply both to home-produced goods and services and imports. In applying them, due regard should be given to ensuring that they do not become barriers to international trade and that they are consistent with international trade obligations.

They address areas such as physical safety, promotion and protection of consumers’ economic interests, standards for the safety and quality of consumer goods and services, distribution facilities for essential consumer goods and services, measures enabling consumers to obtain redress, education and information programmes, promotion of sustainable consumption and international cooperation. They include measures relating to specific areas, including food, water and pharmaceuticals.

Submitted under the Committee's consideration of sustainable development and international economic cooperation was a draft resolution, submitted by the Vice-Chairman of the Committee, Alexandru Niculescu (Romania), based on informal consultations held on draft resolution A/C.2/54/L.12, on preparations for the special session of the General Assembly for an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the Habitat Agenda (document A/C.2/54/L.33). By its terms, the Assembly would endorse the decisions of the Preparatory Committee, in particular regarding its rules of procedure and the dates, venue and provisional agenda for its first substantive session.

Introduction of Draft Resolutions

GEORGE TALBOT (Guyana), on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and Mexico, introduced the draft resolution entitled "towards a stable and equitable international financial system, responsive to the challenges of development, especially in the developing countries". He hoped that the deliberations on the text would result in early consensus and adoption.

Next, he introduced the draft resolution entitled "international trade and development", which builds on previous resolutions on the same theme and occurred at an important juncture in the consideration of international trade.

He then introduced the draft resolution on "specific actions related to the particular needs and problems of landlocked developing countries", to which Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan had added their names as co-sponsors.

Following that, he introduced the draft resolution on "unilateral economic measures as a means of political and economic coercion against developing countries".

SIM FARAR (United States) introduced the draft resolution entitled “business and development”. He said that Japan had joined as co-sponsor. Business was the engine of development. That was often interpreted to mean further development in developed countries, often at the expense of others. However, that had never been the intention. Business enterprises at all levels were primary contributors to the economic vitality and social stability of nations.

Mr. TALBOT (Guyana), speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, introduced the draft on “business and development: illegal transfer of funds from developing countries”. He said the draft text had arisen out of concern that much of resources and funds meant for development were lost because of corrupt practices, in particular the illegal transfer of funds.

He next introduced, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, the draft resolution entitled “implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s".

He also told the Committee that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had joined as co-sponsor of the draft entitled "specific actions related to the particular needs and problems of landlocked developing countries".

Action on Texts

Committee Chairman ROBLE OLHAYE (Djibouti) added an enabling procedural paragraph to the draft resolution related to the report of the Economic and Social Council. That paragraph would read: “The General Assembly decides to adopt the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection (as expanded in 1999), as contained in the Annex to document A/C.2/54/L.24."

GIOVANNI BRAUZZI (Italy), Vice-Chairman of the Committee, said that the draft resolution on “expansion of the United Nations guidelines on consumer protection to include sustainable consumption” (document A/C.2/54/L.24) had been successfully discussed yesterday in informal consultations and recommended for action by the Committee.

The Committee approved the text, as orally amended, without a vote.

The Committee’s Vice-Chairman, ALEXANDRU NICULESCU (Romania), introduced the draft resolution entitled "preparations for the special session of the General Assembly for an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the Habitat Agenda” (document A/C.2/54/L.33). That draft was discussed in informal consultations, which were held in a constructive and positive spirit, and based on draft resolution A/C.2/54/L.12. The text reflected the agreement reached during the consultations, he said.

The Committee then approved the text, as orally amended, without a vote.

The representative of Guyana said that Kyrgyzstan had joined as a co-sponsor to the draft resolution relating to landlocked countries.

The representative of the United States said that Norway had joined as a co-sponsor to the text on business and development.

The CHAIRMAN stated that, in light of the approval of draft resolution A/C.2/54/L.33, draft text A/C.2/54/L.12 had been withdrawn by its sponsors.

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